i 

178 


\c 


THOMAS    PAINE: 


A  CELEBRATION. 


DELIVERED    IN    THE    FIRST    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH, 
CINCINNATI,    OHIO,    JANUARY    29,    1860. 


BY    M.    D.    CON  WAY, 

MINISTER    OF    THE    CHURCH. 


CINCINNATI: 

PUBLISHED    AT   THE   OFFICE   OF   -THE  DIAL," 

NO.   76  WEST  THIRD   STREET. 

1860. 

S.  G.  COBB,  Printer,  Times  Building. 


THOMAS    PAINE: 


A  CELEBRATION. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH, 
CINCINNATI,  OHIO,  JANUARY  29,  1860. 


BY    M.    D.    CONWAY, 

MINISTER    OF    THE   CHURCH. 


CINCINNATI: 

PUBLISHED   AT   THE   OFFICE   OF  "THE  DIAL," 
NO.  76  WEST  THIRD   STREET. 

1860. 


/  / 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


CINCINNATI,  February  5,  1860. 
Rev.  M.  D.  CONWAY. 

Dear  Sir:  —  In  accordance  with  the  ascertained  wish  of  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  audience  in  your  Church  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  January 
29th,  we  earnestly  desire  your  consent  to  the  publication,  m  pamphlet  form, 
at  your  earliest  convenience,  of  the  discourse  delivered  by  you  on  that  occa 
sion —  regarding  it  a  true,  thorough,  and  faithful  vindication  of  the  char 
acter  of  one  of  the  great,  unappreciated,  and  much-abused  heroes  of  our 
race,  Thomas  Paine. 

EDMUND  DEXTER,  SEN.,     W.  GREEN, 
LEWIS  WALD,  EDMUND  DEXTER,  JR.. 

L.  T.  WELLS,  CHAS.  A.  JUNGHANNS, 

CALVIN  FLETCHER,  CHARLES  DEXTER, 

JACOB  HOFFXER,  JNO.  G.  ANTHONY, 

C.  STETSON,  JOHN  S.  TAYLOR. 


497  SEVENTH  STREET,  March  1,  1860. 
Messrs.  EDMUND  DEXTER,  SEN.,  and  others. 

Gentlemen  :  —  It  is,  I  think,  a  gratifying  evidence  of  the  growth  and 
health  of  public  sentiment  in  the  West,  that  there  should  be  a  desire  to 
extend  the  influence  of  a  vindication  of  Thomas  Paine.  The  advance  of 
independence  and  truth  in  ourselves  can  be  measured  in  no  better  way 
than  by  our  eagerness  to  correct  our  prejudices  toward  those  who  have 
suffered  in  reputation  and  fortune  to  establish  the  freedom  of  thought 
which  we  enjoy.  The  same  motives  which  prompted  me  to  this  effort 
to  do  for  the  memory  of  a  deeply-wronged  man  a  justice  which  is  all  the 
more  needed  because  so  tardy,  invite  nie  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity 
you  have  so  kindly  afforded  of  giving  it  a  wider  circulation. 

Yours  truly,  M.  D.  CONWAY. 


M342031 


WHEN  a  man  is  so  fugitive  and  unsettled  that  he  will  not  stand  to  the 
verdict  of  his  own  Faculties,  one  can  no  more  fasten  anything  upon  him, 

than  he  can  write  in  the  water,  or  tie  knots  of  the  wind. 

Henry  More. 

BE  thou  what  thou  singly  art,  and  personate  only  th}rself.    Swim  smooth 
ly  in  the  stream  of  thy  nature,  and  live  but  one  man. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne. 


No  one  need  pride  himself  upon  Genius,  for  it  is  the  free  gift  of  God;  but 
of  honest  industry  and  true  devotion  to  his  destiny  any  man  may  well  be 
proud;  indeed,  this  thorough  integrity  of  purpose  is  itself  the  Divine  Idea 
in  its  most  common  form,  and  no  really  honest  mind  is  without  communion 
with  God.  Fichte. 


THOMAS    PAINE. 


ECCLESIASTES,    IX.    14,    15. 

THERE  was  a  little  city,  and  few  men  within  it;  and  there  came  a  great 
king  against  it,  and  besieged  it,  and  built  great  bulwarks  against  it.  Now 
there  was  found  in  it  a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by  his  wisdom  delivered  the 
city ;  yet  no  man  remembered  that  same  poor  man. 

TO-DAY  is  the  123d  anniversary  of  the  birth-day  of  THOMAS 
PAINE,  a  man  who  was  the  leading  spirit  of  three  Revolutions, — 
one  in  America,  one  in  France,  and  one  in  the  Church.  I  do  not 
propose  to  give  you  a  biography  of  this  man  :  it  is  doubtless 
familiar  to  many  of  you  ;  and  those  who  desire  to  know  the  details 
of  his  life  can  easily  procure  the  true,  and  the  only  true,  record  of 
it  by  Mr.  Yale.  But  the  day,  and  the  man,  and  the  assemblies  of 
honest  men  throughout  the  land  which  will  pay  homage  to  his 
memory,  and  the  annual  shudder  with  which  their  enthusiasm  will 
1)0  met,  —  these  are  living  facts,  representative  facts,  which  no 
philosopher  can  pass  by,  and  no  friend  of  man  can  fail  to  be  inter 
ested  in.  THOMAS  PAIXE'S  life  up  to  1809,  when  he  died,  is  inter 
esting;  but  THOMAS  PAINE' s  life  from  that  time  to  1860  is  rnoiv 
than  interesting  —  it  is  thrilling  !  It  is  freighted  with  the  revolu 
tions  of  thought  ;  it  is  the  realm  where  are  waging  the  Crimeas 
and  Solferinos  of  Reason  and  Knowledge.  I  may  touch  on  points, 
here  and  there,  of  his  life,  but  it  will  only  be  that  I  may  more 
fairly  approach  and  estimate  the  living  PAINE,  —  for  all  classes, 
either  to  their  cost  or  joy,  must  know  how  real  and  vital  is  the 
impress  that  he  stamps  on  the  popular  heart  and  mind  at  this 
present  time. 


6  T  n  o  M  A  s    PAINE: 

Every  one  at  all  familiar  with  the  beginnings  of  the  war  of 
American  Independence  knows,  that  the  idea  of  forming  an  inde 
pendent  Republic  did  not  for  a  long  time  enter  into  the  question.  . 
The  adherence  to  the  mother  country  was  so  obstinate,  that  those 
who  talked  of  separation  were  abused  very  much  as  a  disunionist 
is  now  in  these  States.  Nothing  further  was  contemplated  by  the 
agitations  and  dissatisfactions  of  our  colonies,  than  a  change  in 
the  British  ministry,  and  the  consequent  removal  of  an  unjust  tax. 
Washington,  Franklin,  Rush,  and  Adams  regarded  themselves  as 
protesting  against  a  special  and  practical  wrong,  which  being  re 
dressed,  they  expected  matters  to  go  on  as  usual.  They  had  no 
idea  of  fighting  for  any  abstract  principle  of  government.  Men 
never  take  up  arms  for  abstractions.  The  word  Independence 
was  only  the  muttering  of  a  few  radicals,  frowned  on  as  Garri- 
sonians  are  now  ;  and,  within  one  month  of  the  battle  of  Lexing 
ton,  a  man  might  easily  have  been  hung  on  Boston  Common  for 
uttering  it  too  loudly. 

When  the  dawn  of  the  Revolution  was  flashing  upon  the  sky 
its  blood-red  glow,  mingled  with  the  smoke  of  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill,  four  men  gathered  into  a  room  in  Philadelphia,  —  a 
Boston  lawyer,  a  Philadelphia  doctor,  a  printer  of  the  same 
city,  and  a  Virginia  farmer.  Care  and  apprehension  were  deeply 
marked  upon  their  faces  ;  the  shadows  of  forthcoming  destinies 
and  inevitable  storms  were  forecast  upon  them.  Those  men  were 
John  Adams,  Benjamin  Rush,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  George 
Washington.  These  sit  together  and  read  the  terrible  dispatches 
they  have  received.  Then  they  pause  in  gloom  and  silence.  Pre 
sently  Franklin  speaks  :  "  What,"  he  asks,  "  is  to  be  the  end  of 
all  this  ?  Is  it  to  obtain  justice  of  Great  Britain,  to  change  the 

ministry,  to  soften  a  tax  ?     Or  is  it  for" He  paused  ;  the 

word  independence  yet  choked  the  bravest  throat  that  sought  to 
utter  it. 

There  was  no  response  ;  and  at  this  still,  momentous  moment  a 
visitor  enters.  A  young  Quaker  he  seems,  clad  in  faded  brown  coat. 


A    CELEBRATION.  7 

He  takes  his  seat,  introduced  by  Franklin,  who  had  met  him,  as  a 
poor  stay-maker,  with  a  strong  head  and  face,  in  London.  He 
breaks  the  deep  silence  with  these  words  :  "  These  States  of  Amer 
ica  must  be  independent  of  England.  That  is  the  only  solution 
of  this  question  !  "  They  all  rise  to  their  feet  at  this  political 
blasphemy.  But  he  goes  on  ;  his  eye  lights  up  with  patriotic  fire  ; 
his  voice  rises  to  prophecy  as  he  paints  before  them  the  glorious 
Destiny  of  America,  her  resources  and  power,  and  the  magnifi 
cent  Future  to  which  he  adjures  them  to  entrust  and  dedicate  the 
Western  Continent. 

Then  these  four  men,  so  shocked  at  first,  arose  and  grasped  the 
stranger's  hand  ;  George  Washington  leaped  forward,  and  taking 
both  of  his  hands,  besought  him  to  publish  these  views  in  a  book 
which  should  send  its  thunder-peal  throughout  the  world ;  and 
then  and  there,  out  of  the  heart  and  upon  the  lips  of  THOMAS 
PAINE,  was  born  the  theory  and  aim  of  American  Independence. 

PAINE  went  to  his  room,  seized  his  pen,  lost  sight  of  every 
other  object,  toiled  terribly,  and  on  the  New-Year's  day  of  1776 
the  work  entitled  Common  Sense,  which  first  brought  both  people 
and  their  leaders  face  to  face  with  the  work  they  had  to  accomplish, 
broke  sun -like  on  the  land.  "  That  book,"  says  Dr.  Rush,  "  burst 
from  the  press  with  an  effect  which  has  been  rarely  produced  by 
types  or  paper,  in  any  age  or  country."  The  historians  Ramsay, 
Gordon,  and  others  are  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  this  book 
was  the  primary  cause  of  the  aim  and  result  to  which  the  Revolu 
tion  was  guided.  That  idea  of  Independence  the  pen  of  PAINE 
fed  with  fuel  from  his  brain  when  it  was  growing  dim.  At  this 
distance,  we  can  scarcely  appreciate  the  electric  power  of  that  pen. 
The  battle  of  Trenton  was  Keystone  of  the  Arch  of  Revolution ; 
and  it  was  on  its  verge  that  cold  and  starvation  coiled  about  the 
ranks  of  Washington,  and  their  courage  was  fast  failing.  At  ,one 
time  Washington  thought  that  his  troops  would  be  entirely  dis 
membered.  But  the  Author-Hero  of  the  Revolution  was  tracking 
their  march  and  writing  by  the  light  of  camp-fires  the  essay  called 


8  THOMAS    PAINE: 

The  Crisis.  And  when  the  half-clad  troops  were  called  together, 
these  words  broke  forth  upon  them  :  "  These  are  the  times  that 
try  men's  souls.  The  summer  soldier  and  the  sunshine  patriot 
will, 'in  this  crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his  country ;  but  lie 
that  stands  it  now  deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of  man  and  wo 
man.  Tyranny,  like  Hell,  is  not  easily  conquered  ;  yet  we  have 
this  consolation  with  us,  that  the  harder  the  conflict  the  more 
glorious  the  triumph.  What  we  obtain  too  cheap  we  estimate  too 
lightly  ;  'tis  dearness  only  that  gives  everything  its  value.  Heaven 
knows  how  to  put  a  proper  price  upon  its  goods  ;  and  it  would  be 
strange  indeed,  if  so  celestial  an  article  as  Freedom  should  not  be 
highly  rated." 

The  opening  sentence,  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls, 
became  the  watchword  of  the  battle  of  Trenton,  and  Washington 
himself  set  the  pen  of  PAINE  above  any  sword  wielded  that  day. 
Of  how  many  battles  since,  for  national,  individual,  civil  and  re 
ligious  freedom,  has  that  sentence  been  the  watchword  ! 

But  we  need  not  dwell  on  the  fact  of  PAINE' s  services  and  power 
in  this  eventful  period.  He  stood  the  acknowledged  leader  of 
American  statesmanship  by  the  proclamations  of  the  Legislatures 
of  all  the  States,  and  that  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ; 
the  tribute  of  his  greatest  enemy  was  in  these  words  :  "  The  can 
non  of  Washington  was  not  more  formidable  to  the  British  than 
the  pen  of  the  author  of  Common  Sense"  A  little  less  independ 
ence,  a  little  more  preference  of  himself  to  humanity,  and  he 
would  have  been  the  first  President  of  the  United  States  ;  as  it 
was,  when  victory  perched  upon  the  American  standard  he  went 
to  France,  where  man  was  preparing  to  struggle  with  his  oppres 
sor,  and  became  to  America  the  poor  wise  man  who  had  saved  her, 
and  who  was  forgotten  in  her  prosperity. 

The  other  day,  a  portrait  of  THOMAS  PAINE  was  offered  to  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  to  be  hung  up  in  the  hall  where  American 
Independence  was  born,  along  with  the  portraits  of  men  who,  in 
those  times  which  tried  men's  souls,  looked  to  PAINE  for  the 


A    CELEBRATION.  9 

watchwords  which  should  inspire  victories.  The  city  council 
refused  admission  to  the  portrait ;  the  poor  wise  man  who  had 
saved  the  city  was  ungratefully  scorned.  Now,  friends,  this  means 
something.  It  is  a  more  vital  thing  than  at  first  it  seems  to  be, 
that  this  particular  star  should  be  struck  from  our  national  galaxy. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  it  ?  It  can  not  hurt  "Tom  Paine"  now, 
but  it  may  be  deadly  to  us  ;  therefore,  why  can  not  we  honor  the 
man  whose  patriotism  and  heroism  bear  the  official  seal  of  the 
country  and  every  State  in  the  country,  and  are  signed  with  the 
signatures  of  every  good  and  great  man  who  lived  and  labored  by 
his  side  ?  Jefferson  could  send  a  government  ship  to  France  to 
bring  him  to  our  shores,  Washington  could  invite  him  to  share 
Mt.  Ycrnon  with  him,  Barlow  could  describe  him  as  "one  of  the 
most  benevolent  and  disinterested  of  mankind," — we  can  not  give 
his  portrait  a  place  of  honor,  nor  hear  his  name  without  a  shud 
der.  Now,  what  is  the  cause  of  this  ?  What  great  crime  has  he 
committed  ? 

All  efforts  to  stain  the  good  name  of  THOMAS  PAINE  have  re 
coiled  on  those  who  made  them,  like  poisoned  arrows  shot  against 
a  strong  wind.  In  the  name  of  priests  and  tract-societies,  miser 
able  men  have  come  forward  to  cast  mire  upon  him ;  but  their 
retributions  have  been  swift  and  terrible.  Grant  Thorburn,  who 
\vas  set  up  to  prove  PAINE' s  intemperance,  has  only  succeeded  in 
uncovering  a  mean  theft  of  his  own  early  life  ;  and  Mr.  Cheetham, 
who  lifted  his  fang  to  strike  the  whiteness  of  his  purity,  was,  even 
in  the  godly  city  of  Philadelphia,  before  a  judge  and  jury  who 
hated  PAIXE,  convicted  and  sentenced  for  slander  and  libel  against 
the  dead  hero  and  a  living  and  noble  woman.  PAINE' s  old  friend, 
Elizabeth  Ryder,  at  whose  house  he  boarded  during  all  the  period 
in  which  he  is  said  to  have  been  dissipated,  and  whose  honesty  is 
as  unimpeached  as  her  means  of  knowledge,  comes  forward  to  a 
Justice,  and,  with  nearly  her  last  word  on  earth,  brands  the  pious 
falsehood.  The  Hero's  fame  has  run  the  gauntlet  of  every  slander 
which  priestcraft  and  bigotry  could  spawn,  and  has  come  forth 


10  THOMAS    PAINE: 

untarnished  ;  a  thousand  sanctified  and  clerical  reputations  have 
fallen  at  his  side  and  ten  thousand  at  his  right  hand,  but  the  pes 
tilence  which  walketh  in  darkness  could  not  fix  its  plague-spot  on 
that  honest  and  just  man's  name. 

What,  then,  is  the  cause  of  a  nation's  base  ingratitude  ?  This, 
and  this  alone  :  PAINE  believed;  fifty  years  ago,  what  now  the  en 
lightened  world  believes,  namely,  that  GOD  is  a  Father,  and  not  a 
Tyrant ;  that  he  does  not  send  millions  into  this  world,  from  day 
to  clay,  in  the  sure  knowledge  that  a  large  proportion  of  them  will 
burn  in  fire  and  brimstone  everlastingly  ;  that  GOD  never  said, 
"Put  every  man  his  sword  by  his  side,  and  go  in  and  out  from 
gate  to  gate  throughout  the  camp,  and  slay  every  man  his  brother, 
and  every  man  his  companion,  and  every  man  his  neighbor  ;  "  nor 
that  GOD  ever  made  a  Universe  which  at  this  or  that  period  failed 
to  work  out  by  its  laws  the  best  results,  and  so  had  to  be  eked  out 
by  a  subversion  of  law,  and  patched  up  by  special  intervention. 
But  did  he  disbelieve  in  GOD  ?  Did  he  deny  Christ  ?  Did  he  mock 
the  solemn  and  tender  hopes  which  rise  trembling  but  strong  from 
the  sacred  depths  of  the  human  heart  and  bridge  the  chasm  between 
Time  and  Eternity  ?  Had  he  done  so,  it  would  in  nowise  palliate 
the  wrong  which  has  been  done  to  a  hero  and  a  virtuous  man  :  to 
be  intolerant  to  an  Atheist  is  to  sanction  the  principle  of  the  In 
quisition.  But  let  me  quote  from  his  own  works  the  sublime 
Faith  which  sustained  this  man  through  his  trying  life,  and  folded 
its  white  pinions  about  him  in  the  mortal  hour  :  "  I  believe  in  one 
GOD,  and  no  more  ;  and  I  hope  for  happiness  beyond  this  life.  I 
believe  in  the  equality  of  man  ;  and  I  believe  that  religious  duties 
consist  in  doing  justice,  loving  mercy,  and  endeavoring  to  make 
our  fellow-creatures  happy."  "  Do  we  want  to  contemplate  GOD'S 
power  ?  We  see  it  in  the  immensity  of  the  creation.  Do  we 
want  to  contemplate  his  wisdom  ?  We  see  it  in  the  unchangeable 
order  in  which  the  incomprehensible  whole  is  governed.  Do  we 
want  to  contemplate  his  munificence  ?  We  see  it  in  the  abun 
dance  with  which  he  fills  the  earth.  Do  we  want  to  contemplate 


A      C  E  L  E  B  R  A  T  I  0  N  .  11 

his  mercy  ?  We  see  it  in  his  not  withholding  that  abundance 
oven  from  the  unthankful."  He  read  the  doctrine  of  Immortality, 
which  he  always  held,  in  the  caterpillar's  resurrection  from  the 
grub,  and  in  the  resuscitating  flow  of  springtide.  He  always 
honored  Christ  as  a  pure  and  elevated  man,  Avho  taught  a  perfect 
morality,  and  who  took  into  his  side  a  fatal  sheaf  of  the  arrows  of 
Ignorance  and  Selfishness,  to  break  a  pass  for  human  souls  through 
the  ranks  of  priestcraft  and  tyranny  into  the  realm  of  Liberty  of 
mind  and  conscience.  In  all  his  writings  not  one  disrespectful 
word  to  Christ  has  ever  been  or  can  be  found  ! 

And  this  man,  for  believing  what  John  Adams  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  nearly  every  thinker  of  his  age  believed,  is  singled 
out  and  placed  on  the  pillory  of  history,  simply  because  he  was 
earnest  enough  and  brave  enough  to  come  out  and  set  upon  a  can 
dlestick  the  light  which  others  hid  under  a  bushel,  to  plead  for 
truths  which  others  whispered  in  the  car,  and  then  only  when  no 
self-interest  stood  in  the  way.  The  head  and  front  of  his  offend 
ing  hath  this  extent,  no  more  ! 

In  his  life,  in  his  justice,  in  his  truth,  in  his  adherence  to  high 
principle,  in  his  disinterestedness,  I  look  in  vain  for  his  parallel 
in  those  times  and  in  these  times.  I  am  selecting  my  words  :  I 
know  I  am  to  beheld  accountable  for  them.  So  disinterested  was 
lie,  that  when  his  works  were  printed  by  the  ten  thousand,  and  as 
fast  as  one  edition  was  out  another  was  demanded,  he,  a  poor  and 
pinched  author,  who  might  easily  have  grown  rich,  would  not  ac 
cept  one  cent  for  them,  declared  that  he  would  not  coin  his  prin 
ciples,  and  made  to  the  States  a  present  of  the  copyrights.  His 
brain  was  his  fortune — nay,  his  living  :  he  gave  it  all  to  American 
Independence.  The  sale  of  his  works  has  never  been  surpassed, 
unless  by  that  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ;  so  you  may  know  what  he 
gave  to  the  cause.  And  his  last  work,  which  he  knew  would  sur 
pass  all  the  rest  in  popularity,  he  gave  up  as  freely  as  the  first. 

Biography  affords  no  finer  picture  than  his  action  whilst  the 
resolution  to  give  him  a  large  sum  was  before  the  Legislature  of 


12  THOMAS    PAINE: 

Virginia.  Virginia,  at  the  same  time,  was  making  a  large  claim 
on  the  General  Government  for  lands.  PAINE  thought  that  claim 
unjust ;  and  though  the  bill  in  his  favor  was  yet  pending  in  that 
State,  he  came  out  with  the  pamphlet  which  proved  Virginia'? 
claim  unsound.  His  friends  besought  him  to  delay  it ;  but  they 
reasoned  with  a  soul  which  sought  public,  not  private  ends.  The 
bill  in  PAINE'S  favor  was  not  even  brought  forward  in  the  Legis 
lature  of  Virginia  after  this. 
A  poet  has  sung — 

"  Chambers  of  the  great  are  jails." 

Never  was  the  saying  more  verified  than  when  THOMAS  PAIXE, 
for  his  unwearied  devotion  to  humanity  and  justice,  lay  impri 
soned  at  Paris.  That  dungeon  is  the  moral  palace  of  a  kingly 
soul.  PAINE,  with  his  natural  devotion  to  liberty  and  the  high 
love  of  man,  did  all  he  could  to  awaken  in  the  French  people  the 
spirit  which  would  achieve  another  glorious  Republic,  such  as: 
that  which  he  had  seen  established  in  America.  And  when  the 
revolution  came  on,  he  rejoiced  with  the  liberals.  He  was  almost 
worshiped  in  France  ;  was  elected  to  all  their  assemblies  ;  his 
name  and  his  presence  were  the  signals  for  enthusiasm  and  plau 
dits.  It  was  for  his  rectitude  that  he  threw  all  his  popularity 
away  —  threw  away  the  prospect  of  a  position  almost  imperial  ! 
When  the  inspiration  of  liberty  in  France  degenerated  into  the 
thirst  for  blood,  when  the  aspiration  of  the  people  broke  forth  into 
the  cruelty  of  a  mob,  then  the  son  of  the  old  Quaker  of  Thetford 
rose  up  and  rebuked  them.  Ah,  where  this  side  of  Thermopyla* 
will  you  find  a  scene  more  full  of  moral  sublimity  than  that  which 
occurred  when,  in  the  French  Assembl}',  which  had  met  to  order 
the  execution  of  Louis  XVI.,  the  Secretary  read  the  address,  of 
THOMAS  PAINE,  protesting  in  the  name  of  Liberty  in  both  hemi 
spheres  against  the  death  of  that  fated  monarch?  "Destroy  the 
King,"  cried  PAINE,  "but  spare  the  man  ;  strike  his  crown,  but  not 
his  heart !  "  The  assembly  grew  furious,  and  accused  the  Secretary 


A    CELEBRA*TION.  13 

of  misreading:  "These  are  not  the  words  of  THOMAS  PAINE," 
echoed  from  every  side  of  the  Hall.  "They  are  my  words,"  re 
plied  PAINE,  rising.  Then  he,  the  darling  of  the  people,  became 
the  object  of  their  hatred,  and  soon  was  by  them  dragged  to  pri 
son.  Twice  was  he  sentenced  :  his  death-sentence  was  signed  by 
Robespierre.  He  escaped  it  once  by  a  fever,  which  seemed  about 
to  end  his  life ;  the  second  time  by  an  accident  —  his  prison  door 
being  open  when  the  officer  went  round  to  mark  the  doors  of  those 
who  were  to  be  executed  the  next  day  ;  the  door  being  afterward 
closed,  the  mark  was  on  the  inside.  How  many  tracts  on  Special 
Providence  would  that  have  given  the  world  had  PAINE  been  a 
churchman  !  Here  it  was  that  the  party  then  in  power  in  this 
country  left  him  to  languish  and  suffer,  all  for  a  high,  humane, 
and  heroic  refusal  to  lend  his  voice  to  a  violent  and  cruel  deed. 
Here  the  poor  man  who  had  saved  the  city  lay  unremembered. 

And  this  is  the  man  railed  at  by  the  Church,  and  shuddered  at 
even  by  some  liberal  minds  !  This  is  the  man  whose  portrait, 
with  its  massy  brow  and  eye  of  light,  can  not  be  set  in  the  Hall 
which  he  has  made  sacred  !  When  I  look  at  that  life,  and  hear 
him  denied  the  name  of  Christian,  I  feel  that,  if  he  were  no  Chris 
tian,  'twere  so  much  the  worse  for  Christianity.  I  only  wish 
that  the  title  of  the  accusers  to  that  name  was  as  good  as  that  of 
the  accused.  It  is  easy  for  the  preachers  to  stand  up  in  their 
marble  pulpits — too  often  the  whitened  sepulchres  of  the  souls 
which  built  them  —  and  flatter  Jesus,  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  and  de 
nounce  PAINE  ;  but  how  many  of  them  could  pass  through  years 
of  toil  and  revolution,  and  do  no  deed  that  he  could  wish  for 
gotten,  nor  utter  one  word  that  his  friend  could  wish  effaced  ?  I 
look  for  Christianity  where  Wesley  looked  for  it:  "I  am  sick 
of  opinions  :  give  me  the  life  !  "  Any  hypocrite  can  talk  smooth 
ly  about  Christ ;  can,  like  Athanasius,  give  stately  creeds,  whilst 
he  pilfers  the  bread  of  widows.  When  Mary  Stuart  was  led  forth 
to  her  execution,  the  Earl  of  Kent,  seeing  her  crucifix  in  her  hand, 
said  tauntingly,  "  We  should  wear  Christ  in  our  hearts."  "  And 


14  THOMAS    PAINE: 

why,"  responded  the  Queen,  "  should  I  have  Christ  in  my  hand 
if  he  is  not  in  my  heart  ?"  And  when  we  see  this  man  living  out 
with  his  strong  right  hand  the  Golden  Rule,  opening  that  hand 
for  the  needy,  using  it  for  uncompensated  philanthropy  and  un 
welcome  truths,  I  know  that  Christ  was  in  his  hand,  because  he 
was  in  his  heart.  A  hand  holding  up  to  heaven  a  flaming  heart, 
was  Calvin's  signet  —  it  was  PAINE'S  life.  I  honor  those  words 
with  which  his  will  concludes  :  "I  herewith  take  my  final  leave 
of  the  world.  I  have  lived  an  honest  and  useful  life  to  mankind  ; 
my  time  has  been  spent  in  doing  good,  and  I  die  in  perfect  com 
posure  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  my  Creator,  GOD."  In  any 
other  this  might  sound  like  egotism  ;  but  as  the  last  words  of  a 
man  departing  amid  the  howlings  of  churches,  and  the  ingrati 
tude  of  selfish  men  too  timid  to  do  him  justice  at  risk  of  sharing 
the  hatred  which  pursued  him,  they  are  the  noble  words  of  a  soul 
conscious  of  its  integrity  —  calm  under  the  smile  of  that  Eternal 
Justice  which  lifts  man  above  all  earthly  frowns.  They  are  true 
words. 

My  fellow  men,  these,  too,  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls  ; 
the  times,  too,  in  which  souls  being  tried  are  found  wanting.  I 
am  glad  that  the  pious  and  upright  Council  of  Philadelphia  have 
refused  to  let  PAINE'S  portrait  adorn  the  walls  of  Independence 
Hall.  I  am  glad  of  it,  because  it  is  the  outspeaking  of  the  truth. 
Had  they  admitted  it,  it  would  have  been  a  profession  of  what 
the  country  is  not  up  to.  For  that  portrait  to  be  there  to-day, 
would  imply  that  men  are  not  priest-ridden  in  these  days  ;  it 
w^oiild  imply  that  our  religion  is  no  longer  a  thing  of  words,  but  of 
righteous  deeds  ;  it  would  imply  that  the  true  Christian  of  the 
American  Church  is  a  genuine  man,  and  not  a  hypocrite. 

Let  us  not  have  any  glozing  over  ;  let  the  truth,  however  bad, 
come  out.  The  brow  of  THOMAS  PAINE,  which  throbbed  with  the 
common  sense  of  the  people,  must  for  many  years  wear  its  laurels 
only  in  the  homes  of  the  men  who  do  not  shrink  from  truth 
though  she  wears  rags  and  lives  on  a  crust ;  the  heart  from  which 


A    CELEBRATION.  15 

no  lie  ever  issued  must  be  welcomed  for  a  long  time  yet,  only  at 
the  honest  hearth-stones  of  those  who  will  not  be  pressed  into  the 
mixture  of  cant  and  pretense  which  garnishes  the  world,  ere  that 
brow  and  that  heart  shall  stand  confest  in  high  places,  to  send 
forth  their  stern  rebukes  of  wrong  and  error,  and  to  point  men  to 
the  nobler  day  of  Truth  and  Fraternity. 

Yet  there  lies,  my  brothers,  your  field  of  work  ;  it  is  white  for 
the  harvest.  It  is  the  field  of  Common  Sense  ;  which  means  that 
it  is  the  truth  of  your  mind  and  mine  when,  unperverted  by  error 
and  selfishness,  we  judge  what  is  right  and  true.  It  is  the  field 
of  Common  Justice  ;  which  means  that  sense  of  humanity,  that 
perception  of  the  wrong  done  to  all  when  any  one  is  deprived  of 
liberty  and  love,  which  fills  every  heart  not  preoccupied  with 
prejudice  or  self-interest.  It  is  the  dedication  of  your  whole  na 
ture  to  the  rules  of  virtue,  and  the  untiring  pursuit  of  it  even 
when  it  leads  through  evil  report,  through  loss  of  fortune  and 
friends,  to  a  dungeon  or  scaffold. 

0  devotees  of  Truth,  Children  of  Eeason,  to  you  is  entrusted 
the  present  dignity  and  the  future  elevation  of  man  !  Preserve 
your  personal  independence  as  you  would  the  apple  of  your  eye. 
Be  true  to  yourself  as  the  only  possible  way  of  being  true  to  oth 
ers.  Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait.  And  when  you  fall  in  this 
great  warfare  of  Eight  with  Wrong,  of  Truth  with  Error,  when 
you  come  to  look  down  from  the  everlasting  shores  of  Light  and 
Truth  beyond,  no  music  there  will  be  sweeter  than  the  bowlings 
of  the  errors  you  have  wounded,  or  the  curses  of  those  who  live 
by  deceiving  mankind  ;  and  you  can  bear  no  title  to  enter  there, 
better  than  to  have  been  reviled  and  hated  by  those  who  oppress 
and  wrong  the  weak.  The  poor  wise  man  forgotten  in  the  city  he 
has  saved,  is  not  forgotten  in  the  city  of  God,  which  stands  here 
and  now  and  forever,  and  is  built  of  Truths  which  endure  forever. 


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